Page 20 of Dirty Gambit

Jaxon lifted his arms out to either side in a shrugging gesture. “Where is it?”

Up your ass,came to mind, but speaking was a luxury she couldn’t stomach. Instead, she forced her limbs to unfold and lift her up. Her knees quivered, but she stubbornly locked them in place.

“I can get it,” he snapped, sounding as if he cared, as if he wouldn’t jump with glee if she passed out again. He’d be gone before her body hit the ground. His bullshit sympathies wouldn’t work on her. She wouldn’t let them.

“Bite me,” she grumbled, shuffling intentionally forward, stiff fingers fumbling to slip into the tight lining of her pocket.

She unearthed the keys and popped open the trunk, all the while keeping a shrewd eye on the man still hovering at the center of the campground. Her body stayed braced for his attack even when she dragged out two bottles of water, a box of granola, and two apples. One bottle and apple were pitched at him. He caught the apple, but the bottle veered way off course. It struck the dirt several yards away and bounced. She told herself it hadn’t been intentional, but part of her was relieved when he went to get it, giving her a chance to exhale.

The lid on the trunk banged with a merciless reverberation that made her eyeballs rattle. She ignored it the best she could by weaving her way to where Jessie was still waving her stick flag and stooping down.

The girl took one look at her and staggered away, brandishing her weapon in Lena’s face. Her refusal to just accept Lena frustrated her like nothing else, but she willed it down by offering the girl her best, warm smile and the second apple.

Jessie eyed it and her warily. It wasn’t until she was sure Jaxon was chomping down on his that she accepted it.

Lena rolled her eyes but said nothing as she heaved her own dead weight upright once more.

Jaxon was smirking when she dared a glance at him. She bared her teeth and made her way back to the picnic table.

“Stuff it,” she grumbled, unscrewing the cap on her bottle, and taking a long, hard swig. The warm liquid hit her empty gut with the weight of an iron ball. It sloshed when she moved. She ignored it by ripping open the granola box and unwrapping one of the oatmeal and chocolate bars.

“So, who are you?” Jaxon asked once she’d stowed away the first bar down her throat.

“What?” she muttered, picking at a cluster of oatmeal caught in her teeth with the tip of her tongue.

“To Jessie.”

She stopped and eyed him. “Why?” He gave her a look that said,seriously?She ignored it by crunching up her garbage and stuff it into the box with the remaining four bars. “None of your business.”

The less he knew about her, her and Jessie’s past, the harder it would be for him to find them later.

“I’m guessing a close relative,” he mused, speaking mainly to himself since she’d stopped listening. “Not sister.”

Lena rolled her eyes, regretting it immediately when her brain rebuffed the motion. “Why does it matter? She’s my family. She belongs with me.”

She didn’t add that she was the only one capable of keeping her safe. The only reason Travis would take any interest in the Westwicks would be to use Jessie to get their money. He would snow them for every penny they owned. Then he would kill them. Jaxon thinking he had any power over any of what was happening was laughable, if not woefully ignorant.

“We were told Jessie had no family,” he said in a tone packed with a million different meanings.

“You were clearly told wrong,” she replied sharply.

“Why did it take you this long to find her?”

Against her better judgment, Lena glanced at Jessie. The girl had abandoned her stick and was picking up rocks. She chucked it into the bushes and made an impressed with herself noise.

I didn’t know she existed before now,she wanted to say, but opted with, “I’m here now.”

“Why?”

Lena turned to find he’d moved. He was closer.

“Stop asking questions,” she retorted.

He took another step closer.

Lena shot to her feet, fingers reflexively yanking the gun from her waistband. Her arm shot up, coming level with the center of his chest.

“Stop!”

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